1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an image forming apparatus, an image forming system, and an image forming method.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are current image forming apparatuses each including an operation unit with an operating system (OS) installed therein that makes it possible to add various applications to the operation unit. An application may be also referred to as an “app”.
Furthermore, there are image forming apparatuses each of which automatically transitions to a predetermined preferential application, for example, when there has been no operation input for a certain period, after the image forming apparatus is activated, or after the image forming apparatus recovers from the state of energy-saving mode, which allows the user to quickly operate the preferential application. In such an image forming apparatus, a setting is made to display a screen for operating the application that is frequently used by the user as an operation screen to be displayed on the display unit preferentially after the image forming apparatus is activated or after it recovers from the energy-saving mode. The application for which a setting is made to display its corresponding operation screen on the display unit preferentially with respect to the home screen or the screens for operating other applications as described above is referred to as a preferential application.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-126924 discloses an image forming apparatus capable of early displaying a screen for an application required by the user. The image forming apparatus according to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-126924 shortens the time to wait until the user interface (UI) screen for an application selected on a displayed application list is displayed.
Because the OS installed in the operation unit makes it possible to set a preferential application at the main unit and also set a preferential application at the operation unit, it is necessary to perform processing for synchronizing preferential application settings between the operation unit and the main unit when the image forming apparatus transitions to an operation state different from the current running status on, for example, the recovery from the state of energy-saving mode, which results in the problem that the synchronization processing is time-consuming.
Furthermore, the image forming apparatus according to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-126924 relates to the technology of activating an application that is selected by the user from an application list displayed on the display unit, not a technology of, when preferential applications different from each other are set in the operation unit and the main unit, respectively, synchronizing the preferential application settings between the operation unit and the main unit.
Furthermore, there is a problem of a risk that, because the synchronization processing is performed for many times, i.e., each time the image forming apparatus shifts to an operation state different from the current running status, a failure would occur in screen display of the operation unit on the process of synchronizing preferential applications between the operation unit and the main unit.